Changes//Rafe Cameron

Chapter 2 (ep.1)

I didn't have work till 10 am but the rooster woke me up at 6, I tried desperately to get back to sleep but it was hopeless. I decided I would get up and do some cleaning around the house and go pick up some much needed groceries form Pope's dad's shop. By 7 am the house was tidy with all the stray rubbish in the bin and put all the blankets and cushions back into place on the couches. I looked around in satisfaction happy that it was clean but knowing it was only going to get messy when John B and JJ got up. I took the car this time to the shops; the car was old, my dad let John B and I paint it when we were younger, and know paint is chipping away.

On my way to Heyward's I found myself looking at the destruction of hurricane Agatha, hurricanes weren't out of the ordinary on Outerbanks but I knew that we would be cleaning this up all summer. I made it to the Heyward's and greeted Pope's dad 'Hi Mr Heyward, how are you? Did you get much damage from the storm?' He smiled ' I'm alright thank you for asking Harper, and we didn't get much damage, but Pope will be cleaning up today, won't you Pope?' He said and I turned to see Pope stacking. 'Hey Pope' I said while giving a wave 'Hi harper, Where are John B and JJ?' I laughed, 'Pope, do you really think they would be up at this hour' and we laughed and I went off and grabbed a cart. I had been shopping for half an hour before I heard familiar voices, I left my cart to follow the sound of voices and saw John B and JJ on the HMS Pogue trying to get Pope to get on the boat.

I heard JJ say 'Your dad's a pussy over', I sighed, as JJ had been living with us for a while i had tried to teach how to be polite and use manners, so he wouldn't be in trouble as much, but I guess some things will never change. I met JJ when he had become best friends with John B, he was funny, smart when he tried and always getting into trouble. JJ's mum also walked out on his family when he was young , probably to get away from her abusive husband Luke JJ's dad. I guess once she left he just targeted JJ instead, JJ would always come over with bruises, and fresh wounds, and i would try and patch them up best I could. It was about 8 months ago when I asked JJ if he would like to live with us, he was already staying five out of seven days in the weeks so I didn't see a difference. I guess I kind of adopted JJ as my younger brother, JJ was a good support for John B and he helped fill the empty place of their father at the table.

I was brought back to reality with Mr Heyward yelling at the boys, so I joined in 'John B, JJ listen to Mr Heyward' but it was too late they were speeding away to probably go pick up Kie there other best friend and the only girl in the group. 'I'm so sorry Mr Heyward, they shouldn't have done that, I will give them a stern talking too tonight' I said apologetically, ' Don't be silly Harper all we can do is our best, you have done well being there parental figure' I give him a smile and return to my cart. 15 minutes later I went up to the register and payed for the groceries.

My hands are full of bags of groceries as I made my way to the van, when i got there i relaised i couldn't open the door without dropping a bag. During my struggling I hear a voice behind me 'Need a hand' I turn around to see the familiar blonde hair and blue eyes of Rafe, ' Hi Rafe, um.. yeah actually could you open the door for me my hands are full', 'of course' he says as I hand him the keys. I pile the groceries inside the van, and turn around 'thank you Rafe, your always helping me now aren't you', he laughed 'yeah I guess I am, uh ... do you want to go get breakfast or something you don't have to, I don't know if you've had breakfast or not..' he was rambling, 'I wish I could but I have work in 45 minutes' I said looking at my watch, 'ahhhh .. I should have thought of that, you are the hardest worker on outer banks' Rafe replied 'I do what I gotta do' I said, I smiled at him ' I better go but see your round Rafe', 'Bye Harper' he said in response and we parted ways.

Work was even quieter at the country club than the day before, I assumed that all the kooks were probably fixing up their million dollar mansions and making sure there generators were all working. When I finally got home it was 6 pm and I wasn't too tired considering I just had and 8 hour shift. I walked inside the Chateau to find John B, JJ, Pope, and Kie around a bunch of red cups and a keg. 'What do you think you are doing' I said and they all turned around, 'kegger, do you want to come' John B said, 'I don't remember passing this, especially after what you did at Heyward's today, that was not cool' I said angrily, 'Yeah I know that wasn't cool but we just wanted to enjoy the fishing and sun. Please Harp' JJ said and looked back at me with puppy dog eyes. There was a short silence 'Fine' I responded and they all cheered 'But ...... I will be watching you all very closely and I swear to god if there is one fight this will NEVER happen again' they all agreed and we were on our way.

You can't understand Outer Banks, without understanding the boneyard. It's kind of a three-layer burrito, there's us and our friends, the working class derelicts. Then, there are the Kooks, the rich second homers. There mostly from ponsey -ass boarding schools, just rich trustfarian posers, our natural enemy. And then there are the Tourons, totally clueless, here for a week with their families on vacation. It wasn't long before the beach was filled, I kept to myself mostly because all my friends were far away from Outer banks living their lives like all teenagers should. I talked to couple touron guys but I kept getting distracted mid conversation by looking out for my siblings, Pope and Kie

I ended up isolating myself with my back against away from the crowds, i had been sitting their for about half an hour before I recognised Rafe, I waved to him and he came over. 'Hi Harper, you all right you look upset' he said, 'Hello Rafe, yeah I'm okay just thinking you know, and making sure my siblings don't do anything fucking stupid' He laughed, 'Yeah Topper has got Sarah under control I think' he said pointing to a girl standing on top of a boy that had been washed up shore. ' She's always doing dumb shit not caring about what might happen to others' he said and sighed ' kids are like that you know you tell to do one thing and they do the exact opposite' I said staring at Sarah and Topper get into slight argument before turning back to Rafe. He smiled softly ' Your still a kid and here you are supporting and looking out for others' I smiled at him looking into his blue eyes 'I'm all there got, I gotta do what I can to make sure they can live there lives, finish high school, get a good job, and start a happy family and be able to support them like I do for them' rafe stared into my eyes and said 'But what about your life' I looked down sadly ' I guess this is just the path I was given I may not like it but if I can help my family I'd do it ten times over'.I realised tears had started to form in my eyes. I never really told anyone this mostly because nobody asked and it felt nice to share it with someone. Rafe saw my tears start to form and leaned over and hugged me for a moment I was shocked and then I reached my arms around and hugged him back in silence while tears rolled down my cheeks. 

We stayed like that for a while, until I heard somebody shout  'dirty Pogues' in the distance, i got up like it was a natural reflex ' Ahh shit' I said 'I should have been watching them, I'm really sorry Rafe I gotta go sort this out', Rafe looked at me and said 'I should probably come to sounds like Sarah and Topper. We ran over to the crowd that had formed with people yelling 'fight, fight, fight, fight', we pushed our way through the crowd to see Topper and John B fighting in the water. I was scared once again I felt the warm tears falling down my face and felt Rafe behind me and held onto him and he held me back. 'Stop' I tried to yell and so did Rafe but I was no use, it all got too much when I saw Topper push John B's head under the water I ran over closer yelling 'Please Topper, don't do this please', but Topper didn't listen instead he said ' Hey John B, don't make me drone you like your old man.', I didn't know what to do I looked behind me and said 'Rafe. Please. Help' tears falling down my face he was about to run over when the crowd quietened and I heard JJ behind me say to Topper 'Yeah, you know what that is, your move broski' it took me a moment to figure out what JJ was holding, and then I realised it was a gun.

My face fell, the tears stopped instantly , I was serious now and I said in a croaky but stern voice 'JJ put the gun down' he saw me and his face fell '  I'm sorry Harper, he was going to drown him I didn't know what to do'. I went over to the boys and pulled Topper up  and whispered ' I'm really sorry Topper but I'm gonna have to ask you to go before you get even more hurt' he nodded and turned to Sarah grabbed her hand and they left. The crowd started to disburse with people beginning to leave, I saw Rafe staring at me and I mouthed ' I'm sorry, I gotta go' gesturing to John B and JJ, he nodded and I could tell he understood and he left.

I turned my gaze to John B on the ground a drop to my knees and saw a nearly unconscious John B on the ground gasping for air I picked him up by one shoulder and told JJ to get the other. We walked to the car in silence, kie and Pope had gone to their own homes, I hadn't drunken a thing so I took the wheel. JJ broke the silence by saying 'I'm really sorry harper I didn't think things would get that out of hand', 'what happened' I said calmly with my eyes still on. ' Well I offered Sarah a drink, she said no, then Topper tried to take it and then it all escalated from there' her said looking at his feet, 'JJ ill tell you this again, don't interact with Kooks it never goes well', JJ's pulled his head up and looked at me and smirked 'so what about you talking to Rafe then, yeah I saw you at the Bone yard'. I was flustered 'JJ that's different i can handle my anger and emotions better than you so shut up', we laughed and before we knew it we were at the Chateau and I was patching up John B's injuries so they wouldn't get infected.